They say you shouldn’t go back in time. Stay in the present. You can’t drive your car looking in the rear view mirror. But I say yes, you can stay in the past, as long as it’s good or funny or happy or joyful memories.

It’s pretty common knowledge my holiday season stink, stank, stunk. Illness was the primary problem but being separated from God was the root of the problem. That’s all I’ll say about that.

But now, let’s move on. Here’s the really funny part. It really, really, REALLY stink, stank, stunk.

The reason? A dirty diaper.

My husband had taken my grandchildren to a local children’s museum Christmas Eve Eve so their mama could take care of all the many duties that all mothers have to do to make Christmas magical for their family. Not only was Papa hunting, but her mother-in-law had been staying with her over a week and as her luck would have it, a pipe burst in the wall, flooding her bedroom. Furniture had to be moved, the wood flooring had to be taken up, fans were going to dry out the room, gifts were wet and ruined. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to help with errands and babysitting my MIL. Chocolate pie needed to be purchased. Last minute preparations needed to be done. Traffic was horrible, Wal-Mart was a zoo, you know … it was Christmas. Everyone was on edge. Jesus take the wheel!

So … the hubby took the kids to the museum. God bless him!

A few hours later, he returns. My granddaughter says little brother has a dirty diaper. I have one of the worst “sniffers” on earth. Oftentimes I can’t smell anything (unless it’s perfume or cologne which gives me migraines).

We take my two year old grandson and lay him on the bed. My husband is trying to take off his overalls. I look at him and tell him the overalls have snaps in the crotch … you don’t have to remove the entire outfit. He laughs and says he hasn’t done this in a long time (our children are 33 and 28). We pull one tab off the diaper. We pull the other tab. OMG! What a mess!

We put both tabs back on the diaper. We look at each other. He says he’s all yours. I said, nope he’s a boy, you’re a boy, he’s all yours.

Two year old is wiggling and wanting down. Overalls are up over his face. He is trying to get them off his face. Diaper is coming off. I’m screaming get a towel! Where are the wet wipes? My daughter is announcing from another room she can smell it all the way in … the other room. I’m gagging. He’s gagging. For all I know my grandson is gagging, can’t see his face so not sure. Then he’s laughing.

And then I look up. My husband is unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt. I ask what is he doing? Then he’s rolling his sleeves up! That is when I get a big case of the giggles. I tell him this is not SURGERY! He said he’s never seen such a mess. You do it, he says. I laugh and say, dude, you got your sleeves rolled up! Go for it. Where’s the diaper? I need a wipe. Oh God! I need another wipe! Give me lots of wipes!!! Poop is everywhere. And all I had was girls so I can’t figure out how to get this little male anatomy cleaned up for fear he’s gonna pee on me.

Well … to make a long story short … we managed to complete the task. Lots of laughs, lots of wet wipes.

I thought about it later that night. Here I am a nurse. I have cleaned up a lot of nasty messes in my career. It was pretty funny that a pint sized little boy with a really stink-ing, stank-ing, stunk-ing diaper about ruined Christmas.

So … to answer the question …TWO. Two grandparents. It took two of us to wrangle a little boy with a stinky diaper. Too bad someone wasn’t videotaping us!

In a recent blog, I suggested instead of letting the depression get the best of us during the holiday season, focus on making memories. Well, this wasn’t quite what I meant but hey, I’ll take it. The memory of my husband with his sleeves rolled up trying to change a diaper will be a lasting funny memory for me for sure!